The Season with Peter Schrager: Fantasy Football with Danny Kelly, Danny Heifetz, and Craig Horlbeck

The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody, This is Peter Schrager. This is the Season with Peter Schrager, and there is a special episode We're clear in the decks. This is for you fantasy football heads. I really labored on doing a fantasy football podcast episode because I don't

Uh.

Craig Hrlbeck, Danny Kelly, Danny Hifetz. Theyre the gentleman from the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. Gentlemen, Welcome to the season with Peter Schrager.

Thanks for having us, Shregs. It's great to be back, Shregs. I've missed you.

Let's explain. Let's explain our history. Craig, So, I really love you. I think you're awesome at what you do. And now I listen to you not only on this podcast, but on you know, the Town podcast where you're always giving your your thoughts to Matt Maloney and you're giving like a little different generation than him, maybe maybe one that's you know, more of the target audience at times, but also on the rewatchable like you've blown up quite a bit. You got married, you're a fully grown man.

Sure. Yeah.

During the pandemic, we did a show called Flying Coach with Me, Shregs and the one and only Sean McVay on the Ringer podcast Network. Ten episodes with Sean shreg and all the coolest coaches, all their best friends from around the league, and it's still up on the Ringer podcast never.

You can go listen to it right now.

I highly recommend it, specifically the Shanahan episode. Great episode and Tomlin.

So good dude. All fly Delta and they have like a little section on the Delta and it says podcasts and those Flying Coach episodes are sitting there on the plane and I'm so proud of them. Yeah, it's crazy. The story I love to tell though, is, obviously you sent equipment to both me and Sean. I get the equipment, set it up, no problem. Here's the NFL's coach of the Year. And what had to happen.

He needed a personal visit for myself to come and set his equipment up, which, listen, I was happy to do. I was happy to be there and help him out. So he wasn't as bad as Pete Carroll.

Though, So pet Carrol the year before, you need a little more savvy than Carroll technologically.

Yeah, both will be going at it in the NFC West. All right, So your podcast, it's three guys. You talk football, but you talk life, You talk all sorts of stuff. And I like it because it's not so numbers banging you over the head with the term ADP, and it's not so much it's more about the lifestyle of playing fantasy football.

The best compliment we get is people ask us, oh, so you guys were friends and they gave you a podcast. We actually became friends doing the show, and it's we all have like wildly different backgrounds, and I think what's different between us and other fantasy shows. It's not better, it's not worse. It's like, although fantasy shows are fantasy experts, and we all, like none of us really came up as fantasy football experts at all, So I think we

Like people, we talked about this all the time. It's like our new religion is like it's the way we gather, It's the way we.

Like hang out.

Nowadays we all sit in our houses online and stuff like that. There's nowhere to like really congregate, and fantasy football is the best way to stay in touch with people who you don't live there.

Just people get married, kids, there's and then there's a schedule. It's like the games. Everything's at the same time of the year. It really is about like it's kind of like the kitchen island where friend groups can stay together virtually.

Yes, it is true, like you know you have that calendar and it's like summer you won't talk to these people at all, and everyone's on their trips and everyone's work and whatever. And then that September first week starts and the kickoff goes, and all of a sudden, you're on a text chain with the same guys you've been on a text chain with for twenty straight years.

It's like you never left it is, yeah, all right, but you guys do.

Follow it really closely day to day. So I wanted to give up some topics for viewers or listeners who are tuning in to be like, all right, I got my draft this weekend. I'm not necessarily studying, you know, every NFL network show and learning what Anthony Richardson's doing on a down to down basis, but you guys have

Are we good?

Let's get it all right.

Let's start off.

We'll go Danny high Fitz first. Your Fantasy Football sleeper of the Year is who.

Gave Davis for the Bills. It's the most classic. It's the class going up, class type sleeper man Gabe Dave. Again, he was kind of too hyped up last year, and again he was going like a top sixty pick. People saw the four touchdown game in the playoffs, thirteen second game against the Chiefs, People including us, got a little too over hyped. And the reality is didn't have a great season, kind of had this nagging I think it

They hold it against him for the following ers say I'm not going to do that again. It used to happen with guys who would get injured, Like you draft Fred Taylor and you hope draft him in the first round. I'm dating you, guys, is before you were born. Remember draft Fred Taylor and you're like, he's good, and then Freddie would get hurt like week eight, and you're like, I'm not doing it again next year, and then you

I'm calling an audible today just because he was announced as this team starter.

Anthony Richardson, quarterback for the Colts.

I think, so he's not so much a sleeper in like the best ball streets.

I think a lot the best ball people are kind of all over him already.

But in terms of just day to day you know home leagues. I still think he's being really really underrated. He brings legitimate, like top five potential at quarterback and he doesn't even have to be a good passer. That's the beauty of it. Like he could be terrible and by the way, he probably is going to be terrible as passer this year. If you look at what Justin Fields did, he was a top five, top six quarterback going down the stretch of the season he was.

He lost ten games.

They literally went to like.

The Navy offense we joke about all the time on our show, Like they passed the ball fewer than at a lower rate than almost any team in the last twenty years. You know, Anthony Richardson could be terrible at passing and he could still be, you know, top three, top five quarterback just because of the rushing. The way that stats are set up in fantasy football, it really benefits quarterbacks who run.

These are the types of guys that are league winners, week winners, and league winners.

So Anthony Richardson, just because he can run, I think he's going to be a big time webin for them in the red zone, kind of like we' seen Jalen Hurts over the last few years. Jalen Hurts double digit rushing touchdowns last few seasons. I don't think that Richardson's necessarily at Jalen Hurts's level yet clearly, but I think they can use him in the red zone, kind of like Cam Newton to punch it in.

I think he's going to score a lot of touchdowns. I think he's gonna run a lot, and.

I think he's going to be one of the best late round picks that you can possibly make.

Love it, Craig, take us sleeper, who you got Johan Dotson, the wide receiver and the Commanders second year.

Guy, first to first.

People forget, you know, just because he was drafted around Jet Wilson, Chris Alave, Jamison Williams, Treylon Burks.

I bet you if you ask.

Most people, they would not expect Johan Dotson to be a first round pick.

Last year.

He started super hot, four touchdowns four games, and then he got hurt, and then he came back and finished strong. So his season long stats aren't great, which is what people look back on. Most average fantasy players are looking back on the season long stats, and they would look at Johan Dotson and go, oh yeah, he wasn't as good as Terry McLaurin last year, but in reality, the final five games of the season, when they were both healthy, he was beating McLaurin and all the nerdy stats that

I love Dotson.

I loved the conversation you guys had on your podcast last week, and you did it about guys who might be in the twilights of their NFL careers, and because people just want the young, fresh, new face, they don't draft, but then year after year can still deliver. I'm gonna call this the Keenan Allen Award where he's still around, he still puts up numbers, and yet you look at these top twenty wide receivers, Keenan Allen never in the list,

You, bud, Travis Kelcey doesn't count because he's still a first rounder. I do want to shut out that. The only reason.

Would you take Travis kelce in the first round? Is that happening people take on the first round?

Because here's the thing. Yeah, literally, the only argument against Travis kelce literally is that he's thirty four years old and people are afraid of him bottoming out. The reality is Travis kelce.

Age is just a number.

Guys, look at you, Trager, You were better than conversations.

Is that when Craig and I were in our mid twenties, we hated old, We hated players as the thirty. Now Craig and I are almost thirty, and we're like, you know, what's fine? Old players. Thirty is just the number.

But it's like it's like George Clooney turned fifteen and he's like, you know what, I'm gonna settle down, Like I'm actually okay with marrying somebody over the.

Interest now is time?

Yeah, He's like, you know what.

It's So it's like in my younger days, I was pretty terrified to take Derek Kenry or Travis Kelsek because I'm like, thirty, My god, he must have like a mortgage or something. But uh, like Kelsey like hasn't missed the game to injury. He's had he had COVID and he had you know, they get benched in week seventeen because they're always clinching playoffs.

Stop saying it.

I know, sorry, I'm not gonna win. I gotta Yeah, but the Kelsey hasn't missed the game to injury, they're not gonna what in a decade. It's like Jamar Chase is going ahead of him. He missed it games last year. Cooper Cup missed games last year. Like all these all the players that are supposedly younger and safer have been injured at some point. Kelsey hasn't, So I'm probably giving him the kind of her as they would say, but yeah,

I'm here for the Yiddish Danny Kelly. What about you? Who's the guy that you know? You see and you're like, come on.

My guy this year is Dedre Hopkins.

Really with Tannehill in that offense.

So I actually like Tannehill. I think I'm the last person on tannehill Island. I think he's solid. I don't think he's like great. It was right there and I freaking missed it your audio cut out, But yeah, I mean to me, like he's he's really solid. I don't think he's like great or anything, but he's still a solid veteran. I think he's gonna feed a guy like Dedre Hopkins. I think there's a lot of question marks, you know, outside of Hopkins in terms of what we're gonna expect from this offense.

Obviously, Trailing Burks.

Is there, and he's an up and coming guy, but he's still young, still very inexperienced, and and I think Hopkins is just gonna get force fed in this offense. Last year, this is this was wild to me when I found this stat. Last year, in the nine games that Hopkins played, he averaged ten point seven targets per game.

Really good.

The only the only player, the only receivers who had more targets per game than him are Chase Cup and Jefferson like the first like the first four picks, first five picks, So you know, he's definitely getting older. But his game has never really been built on speed or explosiveness. It's always about body positioning. Old man at the Y type, you know, post a guy up and skyhook him and fundamental that guy's footwork. Yeah, getting get low, low fatality, you know, boxing out.

So I don't know.

To me, he's just so good.

He's I heard Tannehill called him vintage Hopkins the other day, and I think he's just going to have a really big year. And people are forgeting about him because's a little older and he switched teams, which that's valid, But I still think he's going to be the focal point of this passing game.

Craig, tell me why Derek Henry is going in the second round.

What's changed?

Talk about it.

He had three hundred and.

Fifty carries last year, played the entire season, was the third best running back in Fantasy.

And everyone's just like, I'm good. He's twenty eight.

No thanks, Like Leodocaprio when a girl turns twenty six, he's like, I'm out, give me a reason why there's nothing's changed.

He's still Dereck Henry.

We're all obsessed with this idea now that as running backs enter their late twenties, they just, you know, I think it's a misnomer.

Essentially, we're betting on science, you know, we're.

Betting on these phenomenal athletes preparing their bodies and actually taking advantage of the technological advance. And we have now, and Dereck Henry is twenty eight years old. And if I'm going to bet on anybody to actually make it to their thirties and not fall off, I'm gonna pick the guy who gets three hundred and fifty carries every single year and continues to be a top five running back of Fantasy. And he's just sitting there in the

Round starts rolling around, and it is now you can take a little you already took a kicker. You already tick your defense, you got maybe two more picks left to go, and you want to take a rookie. I'm gonna go around the horn. Craig will start with you give me a rookie that might still be around then that you're looking at. Maybe he's not the first or second overall pick, but it's a guy that you've got your eye on.

Interesting a rookie, can I go with? I think I want to go with the tight end position here. I like, I like, yeah, I like two guys. I like Luke Musgrave, and I like uh yep, And I like Jake Ferguson, Michael Mayer, Yeah yeah, Ferguson out of Okay and Ferguson, Oh, Ferguson second year guy, Musgrave rookie.

I'll stick with you with mus.

Grave Ferguson's Cowboys, right he was second year guy?

Yeah yeah, sticking with Muskrave. Then, uh.

When when you're getting a rookie tight end, they don't typically work out. But what I like about Musgrave is, unlike a lot of other tight ends, he's just playing receiver. He doesn't have to learn the blocking half of the of the of the offense. And I like guys much like a Dalton Kincaid. We're gonna be split out and are going to be running routes. And if you look at the Green Bay offense, I mean it's an entirely new, young offense. There's not a lot of established guys. You

Okay, who you got rookie?

He got your eyes.

Oh man, there's so many of them. I could just go down the list. I'm going to shout out a guy who's kind of gotten. People are not super excited about him based on what happened in preseason Week one, and that's Devon a Chain for the Dolphins because he was playing he was like fourth or fifth on the depth chart. In this game, he's playing into the fourth quarter. Typically these are not great signs for rookie running backs.

He's got some hurdles to clear.

I think they don't have Dalvin Cook, which is a good sign. They must have liked what they had in house.

I was a little nervous that Dalvin Cook was going to come in and ruin my dreams. But even though he was playing with like the fifth stringers into the fourth quarter, I'm sticking with it. Devon ah Chain midway through the year, I think he's going to start being really really useful for them. And again he's being used in the way that you want him to be used. Which is as a pass catcher except Colladega speed baby, So I just yeah, hot, nasty, badass speed and that's what he's got.

So I just love this offense too.

It sounds so good coming out of your mouth, Danny, what about you, my friend?

There's a rookie. I really love Jordan Addison, the rookie receiver for the Vikings. I think that he has not been going as high. He's basically like a top one hundred player depending where you look, depending on the platform or website, use eightieth, one hundredth, one hundred and fifth, seventy fifth. It's a huge range. But I think he's really underrated because I think as a pure regular NFL prospect he's undersized. I get all that he's he's not

It's built for him.

Did you see his catch the other day?

He had like a touch catch. They didn't even review it. They called him out, they didn't even review it, but he made the most incredible catch that just it's the preseason. That doesn't counts, it doesn't matter, but whatever it was, it was an amazing catch.

Speaking of preseason, you ask how being a fantasy expert works. Here's how it works, college statistics, preseason plays. If they confirm what you already believe, they're very important and representative. And if they don't, if they go against what you already think, then they're meaningless. And Jordan Adison had sixteen hundred yards in college two years ago and won the Best Receiver in College Football award and then had that catch. So there, I must already be right.

I'm gonna give all the Zay Flowers might be the best wide receiver out of this bunch. It might do it. I don't know if he gonna put up the best numbers, and I don't know how this helps for fantasy. What I'm learning from Zay Flowers is that he's unguardable because of his footwork and speed, and he might just be drawing a lot of pass interference calls. Honestly, that's what I'm telling. So, like, if you're expecting one hundred catches, that might not be it, but he will be a

I like that one too. He's so good.

There's a reason a lot of people were comparing him to like Antonio Brown when you're when you're watching the tape, like his feet are so fast, his route running so sudden and twitchy. I agree with you, though, like I don't know exactly what his role is going to be like in that Ravens offense. We don't even know what this Raven's offense is really don't know what it looks like at all. So there's there's a lot of variants put potential there. But yeah, he's a really good player, all right.

Strategy wise, say I'm doing my fantasy draft. I know which players are good, but every year it's different. Some year it's like you have to get those two running backs early because there's a big drop off. Some years it's you need the wide receiver one because after the first few of them it's a drop off. Craig, I know you've been studying the grids and the cheat sheets. What's the strategy this year is in the first round, is it important to get what? And when you do

So if you're playing in a league with one quarterback, what we kind of like to do this year is basically get an elite player from every single position group. This year is a really unique year because running backs are kind of going late, quarterbacks are hotter than ever, and then you have Travis Kelcey, who's just miles away from every other tight end. So we kind of suggest is get one from each position. Start your draft with the Travis kelce then move on get an elite running

Oh?

Yeah, totally. I really like this year's second round running backs.

So I personally believe grabbing a guy like Kelsey or one of the elite receivers in round one and then getting a Pollard or Josh Jacobs in round two. I think Jacobs has fallen because there's some uncertainty about whether he's going to play.

I think at the end of the day he's probably gonna play.

It'll be that so I think.

But Tony Pollard to me, is.

Like my favorite second round pick right now. I just think he has through the roof potential. He's such a good player, so explosive, and they're gonna use him in the right way. He was already, you know, such an elite producer last year when they had Zeken tout, and now it's his his offense and his his backfield. So to me, Tony Pollard is sort of a lynchpin guy that I just really like in that second round.

So in the second round, Danny, what about you?

Yeah, I mean I agree with Danny Kelly where it's kind of flipped. I feel like you used to take your top running back in the first round and then you get a great receiver in the second. Now it's basically you can pretty much get an elite receiver in the first round. You come back around Tony Pollard, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Nick Chubb, baby Sake one those guys used to go in the first It's kind of like the top twenty top twenty four, but now just the receivers

Because everybody realized that wide receivers exactly. You know, running backs get hurt all the time, and you can you know, you can depend right time. Justin Jefferson, your Tyree Kills, your Jamar Chase is like, if you if you don't want to lose your draft in the first round, you take a wide receiver because you know, by the end of the year, odds are one of the guys you draft in the top five is probably gonna finish in the top five.

Yeah. And what about quarterbacks. I know you said that you want elite, Like, is it crazy to take Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts in the first round this year?

First? Yeah, second, first round. We start our rank you have Fantasy Football doc threear dot com. We have our rankings. We have a top two hundred of upsides downsts for every player.

Uh.

And the bottom line and all these guys basically is we have our quarterbacks right around the third round. Basically we've got basically a couple dozen truly special players. It's Travis Kelcey and a bunch of running backs, receivers, and then at that point, as Craig said, locking those quarterbacks where you're basically getting an elite floor. Jalen Hurts eighteen rushing touchdowns in eighteen games last year, included the playoffs.

Where are you guys at d Kale started? Where are you guys at with Kyle Pitts? I think everyone took him in the first round or second round last year and now like it's almost like, yeah, you wouldn't be able to touch them, you know, it's like how could you?

I think at least for Craig and I think we kind of hate him at this point, like nothing that he's actually done personally that is his fault.

It's just is.

Someone else's problem. You have them.

I don't exactly. I'm just like washing my hands of that toxic.

Relationship that I don't want to be a part of it.

I just don't want to have to deal. I don't want to have to think about him anymore. He might be the best tight end in the NFL.

Gotch Like I hope it for him, I don't.

Yeah, I think it's one of the best, one of the best parts.

I'm unfriend I'm like unfriending him on Facebook so I don't have to look at his feet.

You know this is like, yeah, you mentioned Facebook, I got it. You know well, I think one of the best most charming aspects of our, of the three of us dynamic, is that DK, in his older wisdom, now that he's in his forties, doesn't have the energy, doesn't allow toxic people in his life, and doesn't Michael Thomas. You know, Kyle fits people who just are kind of a drain on your energy. DK, just like I don't, I can't. I don't time for you anymore.

Yeah, all right, quickly, I'm gonna go around you guys, tell me yay or na. I'm gonna mention some things about fantasy football. I'm gonna put you on the spot Craig will start with you auction draft yay or nay? Yay, you gotta do it, explain, make the case for why someone should just scrap the old snake draft. That takes one minute and is you know, easy enough to do to go to the auction thing which seems unbearable.

Let's say Justin Jefferson's your favorite player in fantasy football, and then you're eagerly awaiting what draft pick you're going to get. You're praying you get the first or second pick, and then the hat, the name gets drawn out of the hat and you have the tenth that terrible feeling of well, I guess I want to have Justin Jefferson this year. That doesn't happen. In an auction draft. You can spend your money on any player you want. You

I love it, okay, DK.

Individual defensive players are we yay or nay?

I've been a nay on that one.

I just it's hard enough, like keeping track of all offensive players.

I don't know, like adding all that.

To to the to the plate is a bit much for me. I just I don't track it enough and I've ever really done it. I'm an old I'm an old guy. Can't teach me new tricks.

I don't really know.

I'm not into Danny.

Two quarterback leagues where there's two quarterbacks starting in yay.

Or nay, I'm totally in. At the end of the day, It's very, very silly to me that in real life running backs can't get paid, and like, you know, Jonathan Taylor isn't getting a contract, Will Jim er Say's trying to fly in Orca to see world for twenty million dollars. But in fantasy we have running back like ten twelve running backs come off the board for Patrick Mahomes And at two quarterback league, you know the first Pixar Patrick Mahomes,

I love that. Craig ten team leagues, Yeah or nay. It seems very light.

That's as light as well go. Eight is ridiculous. Ten is where I draw the line. Ten is okay, twelve is ideal, fourteen is fine, sixteen is too.

Big, okay, DK non PPR leagues where we don't keep track of receptions.

We just do yards.

Strongly against Yeah, archaics totally here.

All right, if you're into that, I hate.

You, Danny.

I'm gonna tell you one that my league that is a bit of part of for twenty three years. We don't do flex. We don't believe in it. We think it's silly. There's no such thing flex, Danny hiex flex position, which seems like such a bailout. Yeah, r nay.

I love no flex.

We leading the witness.

What is flex?

I love it.

It's the dumbest This is a great take. It's like, be decisive. Who are you?

Never know what flex would be good for?

Flex should be like the four players who are like quarter old Patterson can plain in the flex. That's it.

Sure, the actual.

Patterson, Taysom Hill, and Jamier Gibbs can be flex. I hate the flex. I never heard of the flex until like I came on a Good Morning Football and I come on hearing the word flex. But what the heck is flex? They're like, well, it could be any position. It's take a wildcard, Like, well, that's not real. It's the dumbest thing.

I love this flex, all right.

Team defenses counting, Craig, Yeah, your nay, I go back and forth.

I'm fine with it.

I prefer a team defense over a kicker, So if I had to choose, I'd take the defense.

Fun the route for a defense, Okay, DK, I'll ask you counting every little thing, like a two point conversion has a metric, or a batted down pass has a metric. Like at some point there's got to be a limited the.

Forty yard completion bones, Yes, I hate that.

Yes, sorry, I'm judging.

I was going to bring that up.

No, I was gonna say the like you get a bonus for having one hundred yards. This is I've played in a few leagues where like a running back, if you.

Gets one hundred yards gets a bonus. I think there's a.

Time and a place for it for my home league, for like most of my leagues, I don't really want that. I do think it's fun to like sprinkle that in every once in a while if you're like in a tournament or something like that. But generally speaking, I like pretty standard scoring setting that DK.

How many of your twenty three leagues are do you use the one hundred yard.

Bonus probably none, right now, Okay, I would say I'm open to it in like one or two leagues, just because to.

Mix it up and make it fun.

All right, DK, I'm gonna go back on that one with you. I just heard twenty three leagues. I know it's being sarcastic.

He actually is in twenty three weeks.

Actually he's in twenty two.

Pandemics like Sanity Project was just drafting Dynasty Fantasy not fun.

It's not fun.

It's fully talking about it.

Fun about that, And the whole point of it is you have a player in the league I found, and you're rooting against every player in the league.

But yeah, I mean I have so many I have so many players on my teams that I'm like.

But in your head, which team is which? I feel like I wouldn't know who to root for.

No, So you just I will say, here's the qualifier. Here's the qualifier. Ninety five for cent of my teams are dynasty leagues. So it's not day to day stuff that you're doing. There's not a bunch of guys in the waiver wire. Typically it's like you draft a team and you develop it over years, but you're not It's not like I'm spending a lot of time on this roster.

Can I day out you know what I mean?

Can I unveil a hot take on you guys right now?

Yes?

I'm out on dynasty leagues? Me too, Boom.

You know what the best part about fantasy football is the draft.

Craig, You're in my dynasty league and time on it.

He's playing it.

He doesn't like it.

Oh cool?

I get to draft a fourth round run with you.

I get this question all the time. Should I keep two out of these seven players? I don't know? Draft a new team. I don't like it.

Draft a new team.

I don't want to be parsing through six round rookies to figure out who has value.

That sounds terrible. You know. I want to draft Patrick Mahomes.

Thank you, thank you.

That's fun, Danny, Danny high Fetz.

People who draft in person versus people who draft online, and the rift there of the arrogance and I'm an on person guy, of those who roll their eyes at those who are in a Yahoo Yahoo draft room and consider that a fantasy league go on?

All right?

So this is this gets to what we were saying earlier about like fantasy football is about keeping in touch with your friends people different places. Obviously can't control that. You always want to draft in person if you can. If it's your friend group, you want to be in person. It's incredible. At the very least, though, you have to show up for the dre You can't auto draft. Got auto draft? Is it? Look? If you have children, you too understand. It's better than me. We can talk wedding.

If it's on zoom. That's okay. You just can't auto draft. That's unaccepted. It's un America, I think.

Correct.

No, the hardest part of any league, and you know now we're just going off because I got so many thoughts. The hardest part of any any league is finding a draft time that works for everyone. If you get one of those Google doodles going and everyone you come up with one time, I don't care if it's five o'clock on a Wednesday, you better not the day of say I just can't make it. That's unacceptable.

You're out.

You're out. We will find a replacement.

The two people can also pay your league dues before the draft. If you're a commissioner of a league, require everyone to pay their league dues or they can not trist.

Is that a thing people pay the league? Do you get to chase them down for the for the vendors.

Yeah, I gotta go hire like a fixer. I gotta go hire Ray Donovan to go get the money from this guy.

Yeah, there's always one of them.

There are two people I hate in a fantasy league. I feel like Austin Powers and I'm like, there's two kinds of people I hate in this world. Yeah, but what the people who don't fill out that doodle, as you were saying, and then at the end, once like nine people can make it, you're like, oh, that day doesn't work for me. My mother's visiting, And I'm like, dude, that's what we made the doodle for. The Other one is the people who think that they get to veto

I love it real quick. There's a whole craze in the last ten years of like punishments and making it go viral. And this guy ate a waffle every day, every hour for twenty four hours. This guy I had to poop in a sandwich and eat it and we all laughed and we put it on YouTube too. Sophomore silly or you guys all for this craig, We'll start with.

You if you're coming to me.

It's definitely not too sophomore. I don't know how other people feel, but I'm all for it.

In our league right now, are the current rule is we have the loser on the trip next year. He's our butler and he has to wear a outfit hell the whole weekend. He like serves us food and he gets the worst bed. And I'm all for it, you know. And we've actually employed a last place tournament at the end of the year for all the guys whose teams suck in like weeks twelve through seventeen, we have a

DK, what's the craziest thing you've heard in that regard? I mean they come up every year, they're more and more.

Man there's I had a couple of friends who under their leagues, they're like punishment for last place was yet the to go like be a busker on like a sidewalk and like play music and and try and get tips and things like like what's a busker is like when you're like you're on the corner, like playing like music and like try to make.

Money that way. The open guitar, I want to.

I want to tell you one great I want to tell you one great rule that we have in in one of my leagues is if you get a zero in any of your spots in any given week, you like a player.

Like a guy got to help change your lineup?

Yeah, goose egg. Yeah you have to shot. You have to record yourself shotgunning a beer and send it to the rest of the league, and that I think is one of the more fun rules.

That I have in any of my links.

Like it, Danny yourself, the craziest thing you've.

Heard, there's some I mean the craziest stuff is there are people who there are leagues that you have to get it to too. I mean, that's crazy that. That to me is the wildest, the wildest one we do. The one that I think works the best, and even as you get is our league gets a beer mile because we Thanksgiving, there's always a We do a flag

That's good.

I like that.

Craig correct me if I'm wrong. Bill Simmons is league and they always talk about the Shakey's League. Yeah, the winner gets to vote off any person in the league and they have to miss a year. Right, I think that's pretty drastic.

This is the funniest one.

Yes, so it's a twelve it's a twelve team league, but there's but there's thirteen members and every year, thirteen people have to show up to the draft and the previous year's winner then sits down like a dictator and goes you you're out, and they have to get up and leave the draft.

I'm not kidding. I guess it was during the pandemic and I was listening to Simmons a lot, like twenty twenty maybe twenty twenty one, and I think there was real friction between him and Sal over it. It felt like, oh there was salout and Sal was very angry.

Bill.

Well, when Bill got voted out one year, he started a new league.

Bill was.

I'm not just saying this because you know, we worked for Bill Simmons. I think I actually think Sal must have come up with that. I think that is the that is the rule that I actually think it is the best. It is incredible, it's.

So good, and they, yeah, that's great. All right, guys, we're wrapping. Uh, fantasy football is on the way. Where can we find the podcast? And what is it called? Craig for everyone who listens to this one and wants their hardcore football news but had a draft this weekend and is like, wait a second, my pants are not ready for this. I need to get ready. Where would you go for it?

Yeah?

Sure, the show is called The Ringer Fantasy Football Show. It's anywhere you can find podcast. We prefer Spotify. There's a lot of fun features on there. You can look at our guide while you listen. But yeah, The Ringer Fantasy Football Show with us three three days a week and four days a week during the season.

I wish you guys well for Danny Hifetz, Danny Kelly, Craig horlback, guys, this is awesome. We really appreciate you coming on. This is great.

Thanks Pete, love you, Shregs.

Thanks for having us.

I love those guys. I think they're cool, they're funny, and they've got a great friendship that you can tell. And that's the key to any show or podcast, And obviously fantasy football is the thread that keeps them all together and going with the pod. But Their podcast talks

Yeah, very much so. I actually got into fantasy same thing with a bunch of friends from high school, middle school. Then also like the same year when I was starting, that one also started two others.

So I had like three leagues.

In my very first year of playing Fantasy. And my favorite part, like the guys were saying like you were saying, is just keeping in touch with friends and like sending emails. And we have won my league with like the high school school friends, the four of us that are like the tightest one of the guys has still not won, even though he's the one who's.

This is like fifteen years you guys have been in this right.

It is yes, yep, and it is just a I just I never let him forget it. It's always just like in the chat, I'm like, oh wait, isn't there someone here who's never won our league. I forget which one of us it is.

I do have strong takes, as you could hear, like I really resent the auto draft thing. I think that's real, Like if you can't give me two seconds of your time, then you don't belong in our league. I actually look in my whole life, I was in one league. I hate the idea that people don't get together, and I know that's selfish. And now that I've got a family, it's nearly impossible, like on the weekend. But like, I hate these leagues that it's just random people that you

I have decreased the number that I've been in and especially like the more that I've worked with NFL all stuff, the less I want to be in those leagues because it's just it, it is too much to keep track of and like you were saying, at some point, you are rooting for every player and against every player, and it's like I need I need Jonathan Taylor Discord, but not more than sixteen, but he can't do more than seventeen. Yeah,

I also it's a I think it's like it's like I don't give a about anyone else's fantasy league either. Like when someone comes up to me and starts talking to me about their team, I you, there is nothing I'd rather talk about mathematics or like the future of algebra. I don't care. I know it sounds rude. I do not care, and it's the question I get the most. If I'm ever recognized on the street or in an airport, someone will shove their phone in my face and they'll

I'll be sure to text you during one of my drafts and ask you, I mean, tregger, I got I got a twelve front's sleeper for me here. I do care about my friend's leagues or my friend's team. If it's I'm in the league too, then I care because I wanted to do poor.

The best is when you know you're in a live draft with your friends and there's one guy, and again not an advocate of bullying, but there's one guy that no matter who he takes, everyone will go eh, and it's like no, no, no, no, no, like it just constantly. Yeah, that's it, Aaron, Good luck in your fantasy drafts. I think we time this. I think they're going to be this weekend, next weekend, and then of course up until Labor Day weekend. But with preseason and full swing, now

Everybody.

Football regular season is almost here.

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